Now more than ever, the world needs Equity Fluent Leadership™ as COVID-19 continues to deeply and severely impact the people in our communities, the business world, and global society. The reality is, public health and economic crises have a significantly disproportionate negative impact on women, ethnic minorities, and those on the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum. It is critical both to respond to the crisis in the immediate term, and to focus on an equitable recovery that ensures that the long-term effects from the virus do not worsen inequality, as they are poised to do. This is a once in a generation opportunity to address staggering inequalities in the United States and to rebuild in innovative and systems-changing ways towards an equitable future. Business leaders must use their power to strategically lead the charge.
The Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership (EGAL) has tracked multiple sources of data, and developed a strategy playbook for business leaders to successfully integrate equity and inclusion in COVID-19 recovery and lead in an equity fluent way. The playbook will be shared widely with businesses and local governments across the country to spur further equitable recovery in the US.
Transforming Business Beyond COVID-19: An Equity Fluent Leadership Playbook
The Need for Equity Fluent Recovery
Part I of the playbook focuses on grounding the conversation in the most immediate and business relevant impacts that communities of color and women are facing during the pandemic. It also seeks to create a framework for defining what effective equitable recovery is in order to assess what businesses are leading, and which are lagging today. We call this framework, equity fluent recovery.
The Companies Leading and Lagging in Recovery
Part II of the Playbook is an evaluation of the COVID-19 response and recovery actions implemented by Fortune 100 companies to date. In this section, we present how these actions stack up against our vision for an equity fluent recovery and highlight gaps that need to be addressed in order to achieve it.
An Analysis of Historical Recovery Responses
Part III of the Playbook details five key lessons that EGAL has taken away from a review of historical recovery trends. While not exhaustive, these lessons focus on how past responses from the private sector to economic crises have exacerbated or reduced racial and gender inequities to inform COVID-19 recovery priorities.
The Equity Fluent Recovery Plays Needed
Taking what we have learned about the impact COVID-19 is having on workers of color and female workers, how companies are responding, and the history of recovery efforts, EGAL has developed 12 transformative plays for recovery. These plays are high-level actions that can have lasting changes in the workforce both during and beyond the pandemic.
